Long term cruising questions

[Kenomac]

The Mistral is blowing hard today here in Sardinia. Not a good day for boating. Indoor projects for me.

This sort of weather pattern will mostly quit in another week or two until late September. But it can reappear unexpectedly, so all boaters need to keep an eye on the weather forecast.

[Kenomac]

Mediterranean wind pattern names.

[omc]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The Mistral is blowing hard today here in Sardinia. Not a good day for boating. Indoor projects for me.

This sort of weather pattern will mostly quit in another week or two until late September. But it can reappear unexpectedly, so all boaters need to keep an eye on the weather forecast.

Mistral is blowing hard there and here in Bandol area too with strong gusts while it's not that bad in Antibes (attached map of today) which is the reason why I keep my boat there to avoiding most of the Mistral.

I more than agree with the need to keep a close eye to the weather forecast in the Med where the wind and sea may build up quickly all year round. In my own opinion an electronic barograph (electronic barometer with recording unit and graph) not only to show the pressure but also to measure the rate and the speed the pressure is sometimes dropping seems to me essential in a large part of the Med where we are under the influence of a possible low atmospheric pressure that is often developing in the Gulf of Genoa, bringing some significant height waves.

Your map of Mediterranean wind pattern names is a very interesting synoptic table for those who would be interested to come sailing over here.

[FatBear]

Originally Posted by facciatosta

If you want to stay in Italy permanently you can apply for Elective Residence. It needs to be done in Italian consulate in the United States though. It will require a lot of paper work proving that you will not be burden to Italian state( carico di Stato). They may require permanent address on the application.

Yeah, I was reading about that the other day. So does that mean you have to fly over, get a place, then fly back and apply, then fly over again? Seems like quite a hassle. It isn't possible to go over, find a place, and apply locally?
And can you change your location once you are there with your visa? Like if we started out in one town and found a place we liked better in another town?

[facciatosta]

Originally Posted by FatBear

Yeah, I was reading about that the other day. So does that mean you have to fly over, get a place, then fly back and apply, then fly over again? Seems like quite a hassle. It isn't possible to go over, find a place, and apply locally?
And can you change your location once you are there with your visa? Like if we started out in one town and found a place we liked better in another town?

Yes, it is a hassle. That is the way Italy is( I stayed there 8 years). No, you have to apply in the United States. This is universal rule used by most countries - applying for visa in home country. Getting place still does not guarantee you get the visa. You need to demonstrate you financial viability, knowledge of culture and language. In other hand Italian immigration is usually very lenient toward Americans as long as you do not get into some troubles. So you may hang around for awhile but you won't be able to open bank account without residence permit and therefore do certain transactions. At airport they just stamp the passport without ever looking into it. In Rome they even did not do that. Beware however Germans and Swiss - these are very vigilant.
Of course buying property in Italy comes with sale tax and property tax just like anywhere else.

[FatBear]

I'm back. Sorry, but my Dad's health took a major downturn, we had to put my Mom in assisted living and Dad is cycling between rehab and the hospital with not much time left. I've been very busy.

My wife was questioning me, last night, and I realized I don't have good answers for some of her questions. Is it feasible to move from port to port in Italy, southern France, and maybe the east side of the Adriatic and Greece, rather than having to anchor out everywhere? I told her that my guess was that most ports would have limited transient moorage if any and it would be very hard to get one in the summer. I also guessed that we might be able to find monthly slips more easily, though I still have no idea if we could find one in the summer. Was I close?

Is there an area in Spain, France or Italy where we could winter over without too miserable of weather? Per the earlier discussions, we are Oregonians, not Californians, and can handle some nasty weather, but we're also getting older and becoming less tolerant of it.

If we have a boat in a "home port" somewhere in Italy, can that qualify as a residence for purposes of getting a residence visa? If not, we'd probably have to buy or lease a place. (I was offered a small place near Lucca for $50K, which didn't seem like a bad idea, but we weren't ready to commit at the time.)

[omc]

Bought yesterday Weather 4D 2.0.
The last zone previously used comes up first when opening Weather 4D 2.0